


Nothing More

by NikkiPond



Series: Vardøger [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Divergence - Thor (2011), Character Development, Drama, Family, For Science!, Friendship, Gen, Human Loki (Marvel), Hurt/Comfort, Jane Foster Loves Science (Marvel), Or Is he?, Physics, Science
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27615286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiPond/pseuds/NikkiPond
Summary: In which Thor is banished to Midgard and finds a human version of his brother Loki. And is forced to learn humility in a longer and harsher way.[A very slow-build up character development fic,in which we see Thor is trying to adjust to a mortal, domestic life and yes, aThor&Loki brotherly kind fic(but angst) too]
Relationships: Jane Foster & Loki, Loki & Thor (Marvel)
Series: Vardøger [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2045581
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or any canon-characters. Though I might own some characters.
> 
> This long story is going to be a slow build-up. The main premise is about Thor learning about humility in a longer and harsher way. And by longer, I mean slow-build up character development that's not gonna take 3 days. I mean it could take months or years for Thor to finally learn his lesson. And by harsher, well it would be the "human version of his brother". You'll see my point.

“Come on Jane,” Liam shook his head. They were in the property they rented in Puento Antiguo. The equipment around him as they prepared to pack some stuff. 

He helped Erik with the equipment and into the back of the SUV.

“It will come in the next two hours!” Jane said excitedly, looking at the readings at her scanner. 

Liam just shook his head, walking past her as he carried the equipment. It was a normal thing that Jane Foster would do.

“Hey have you seen my pod?” Darcy stepped outside.

“I think it’s in the kitchen,” Erik said. 

“You’ll be fine,” Liam whispered to Jane’s ear. Despite the excited look on her face, he knew she was worried about the possible happenstance. “They’ll be fools.”

“My career could be at risk for this,” Jane muttered. “Sometimes I wish I was like you.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Do you think I care what the scientific field thinks of me? To them, I’m just a poor kid who can’t even make a simple decision on what is feasible. It’s a mess.” He shook his head, almost ruefully at his history.

“Unlikely, but still brilliant,” Jane conceded, remembering his works. 

“To be fair, it’s not like I gave it any thought further.” He remarked. In fact, that was one reason why they were in friends in the first place, despite that they come from different majors in the same university. It was no wonder they didn’t cross paths in their first years despite the fact they both have a mutual friend, Dr. Erik Selvig, who was once Liam’s professor in Theoretical Astrophysics. But at that time, Liam had decided to switch to a different major, only staying in Astrophysics for one semester. How Liam managed to graduate after all the scrabble of various fields, he didn’t know. But he was somewhat of a hobbyist when it comes to conducting feasibility studies and discard them half-way into the project. It was no wonder he had a reputation for being “half-work”. Dr. Jane Foster had come to him in the cafeteria, asking to explain one of his old, graduated papers that didn’t make it to the scientific community, but Dr. Selvig had thought it worth to show her.

Liam hadn’t thought of _that_ particular paper for many years. The theory of the wormhole. It was no different to the rest of the garbage he had dumped as “less meaningful”, but it’s not like he cared that his work _needed_ to be done and proven to the world. He didn’t owe them. 

Jane thought it was a waste of his talents that he didn’t give much effort to his work. Liam looked at her as if she slapped him. He knew most of his professors thought of him that way. _I guess Jane was no different_ , he thought as he pushed the equipment into the back of the SUV. Contrary to popular belief, he _did_ put all his effort. That was no mistake. Everything he ever did was mostly based on empirical evidence, and he just followed that pattern with little theoretical applications. Sure, he may not be brilliant nor prestigious. He considered himself average among his peers, or maybe _below_ average, if he had to count the number of times he argued with his Uncle’s protégées.

“You know that peculiar velocities’ motion due to the local attraction of matter, galaxies do not move in coordinate space, it is the space-time fabric which is _stretching_ between galaxies, right?” Liam had explained to her as she sat across from him in the middle of the cafeteria, sipping his coffee. “Earth is the entire reality of three dimensional (four if you count time) space-time we inhabit. There may be a merit to Einstein’s proposal of theory of general relativity that these bridges connect two different points in space-time, theoretically creating a shortcut that could reduce travel time and distance. Mathematically speaking, you can’t predict one.”

Liam pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the equations that he had long ago thought of, “This is science fiction,” he said with disgust. “But again, he had a merit.”

“Hypocrite,” Jane muttered, and then she froze as if she didn’t mean to say that. Liam gave her a look, debating whether just to abandon this. He was used to being questioned, and despite his reputation, Liam was capable of arguing and backing his facts. He was a scientist. It’s just a matter of _not_ wanting to explain it. He knew what Jane meant was. Liam followed empirical evidence, not much into the theoretical applications. The Einstein-Rosen Bridge felt like science fiction. Like seriously, an interdimensional/inter-stellar travel? These thoughts make Liam shuddered because it goes against his scientific nature. This was why most of his works were piled “meaningless,” and few made it to scientific journals. His idea of the wormhole was, honestly, more out of _spite_ than out of desire. Sure, it was out of character that he delivered that kind of notion, but he blamed his ex at that time for challenging him. 

“Space is curved in the presence of massive objects. This distortion of space causes the path of light in the vicinity of a massive object to change.” Liam continued.

“Gravitational microlensing,” Jane nodded.

“These compact objects that are observed in a variety of binary star systems. Like wormholes, the high-energy electromagnetic radiation that was emitted from the system. Using the manifold, since physics is my area of expertise, the space we are all used to is traditional Euclidean flat space in Cartesian coordinates. The matter distorts and curves this flat metric.” He highlighted his equations. This topological feature of our manifold connecting two completely separate regions of space with a tunnel. And look what we have with the isolated systems."

"Which means the total momentum of any isolated system is constant. The principle of conservation of momentum may be used In the analysis of collision problems," Jane breathed with wonder.

Liam glared at her, as if she just repeated a statement, “I’m no idiot. Forgive me if I don’t ponder on the philosophical aspects of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. What I do is _pure_ facts.” Then he quickly changed the subject, “Thorne had a better idea. The Morris-Thorne metric. Inserting the metric based on Einstein’s formula, then derived conditions for the matter that would be required to create this wormhole. As a relativist, this is mathematically consistent. Matter violates the null energy condition ‘exotic matter’.”

After that, it seemed as if Jane found a kindred spirit in him. Even though he barely gave thought to his feasible hypothesis. She had nagged him nearly every day as if to extrapolate what information he carried. But that was it; he didn’t care. Not really. Just as he didn’t care if the scientific community thought him a half-worth.

In fact, out of all his theories in astrophysics, the trans-Neptunian object's composition seemed more interesting to him than Einstein-Rosen Bridge, which made it to the _bottom_ of his list. Not that he gave the field that particular thought. He was working on his thermodynamics of hot strong-interaction matter from nuclear collisions, more into the nuclear physics field. 

It was impressive that Jane managed to convince him to go on her field trip so that she can _bounce_ off ideas with him and Dr. Selvig, who later on joined with them. Although Liam was no expert in that field.

Besides that, his uncle, who must have heard it through his connections, convinced Liam to meet one of his colleague that lived in New Mexico. 

“We’re all set!” Darcy called out, bringing Liam’s attention back to the present. 

Liam quickly wrapped his scarf around his neck, and then he zipped his brownish-yellow jacked tight, hiding his blue shirt underneath there as he joined with Erik at the back of the SUV. 

In the passenger seat, Jane was looking at the scanner with an excited look on her face while Darcy was driving. 

Looking out the window, he could see stars up in the sky. He sighed. 

“Are we there yet?” Darcy asked about a hundred times. 

“A few more miles,” Liam said tiredly, sharing a look with Erik. He had no idea how he put up with Darcy for a week now. It baffled him that Jane hired her, when in fact, she was a political science student. 

“We’re here!” Jane shouted, startling the men.

Liam looked out. It was in the middle of a desert. They were already a hundred miles from town. This was obviously where it was, according to the readings. He sighed before opening the roof and stepped onto the top, setting up the equipment by pointing them at the sky. Jane joined with him, positioning the magnetometer so its monitor calibrates with the constellations above. 

“Hurry!” Jane said as she helped Erik up, who had cursed from banging his head on the ceiling. “Oh-- watch your head.”

“Thanks. So what's this ‘anomaly’ of yours supposed to look like?” Erik asked.

“It's a little different each time. Once it looked like, I don't know, melted stars, pooling in a corner of the sky. But last week it was a rolling rainbow ribbon—“ Jane babbled. 

“’Racing’ around Orion?’” Erik teased. “I've always said you should have been a poet.”

Liam snorted. “She’s horrible in literature.”

Jane ignored him, still excited. “Hey, Darcy. Pass up the bubbly and my gloves, will you?”

“The next thing you know she’s going to find an alien,” Liam said, amused. Erik just gave him a pointed look as Darcy passed Jane a champagne bottle and a pair of gloves.

“Liam. This is going to be a huge breakthrough for me! Can you believe it?!” Jane beamed at Liam, showing him the scanner. 

“I cannot believe it either,” Liam muttered, kneeling down to opening up the panels. “Darcy, the clamps.”

“Got it.” Darcy said.

“Your man would be proud to see you know,” Erik said softly to Jane, who’s grin faded to a sad smile.

“Thank you.” She said.

“For what?” 

“The benefit of the doubt.” Then Jane joined next to Liam. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Liam deadpanned.

“Thanks for coming, even though you don’t really care about this.” She said, sheepishly. 

Liam gave her pointed look. “It matters to _you_. It’s more of a side-along, Jane.” They stared out at the sky expectantly. Liam wasn’t sure what he expected, but it brought an uneasy feeling about it. Perhaps that had more to do with his past relations. After a long beat, nothing happened.

Jane grew worried, “It's never taken this long before.”

“Can I turn on the radio?” Darcy called out.

“Sure,” Jane said, her face a bit tense. “If you like rocking out to KFRM, ‘All agriculture, all the time.’”

“It’s not always predictable,” Liam said. His eyebrows furrowed before looking over at Jane’s shoulder to look at the readings. “Unless the energy had somehow paused.”

“But the anomalies are always precipitated by geomagnetic storms. Ugh.” Jane said as she headed down into the vehicle. Liam glanced at her before looking out the sky. He could hear Jane in a pleading tone, telling Erik that it had to happen today.

“…Last seventeen occurrences have been predictable to the minute…I just don’t understand.”

“Maybe an equipment malfunction?” Erik said. 

Liam’s brows furrowed, and he frowns deeper when his eyes caught a light. Right there was an odd glowing cloud forming in the sky just right over the Northeastern end of the desert.

“Jane?” Liam called. The lights and equipment began to flicker, and the computer monitors squelch with static. “You might want to see this Jane. Your anomaly.”

Jane’s head popped up, eyes widened. A massive cloud now had some kind of rainbow light, churning in the sky. 

“Shit!” He could hear Darcy curse, dumbfounded.

“Holy God!” Jane breathed.

“That’s your ‘subtle’ aurora?!” Erik shouted, his voice panicking.

“Quiet impossible,” Liam remarked as he pushed Jane’s head down to the vehicle before jumping down. 

“Let’s go!” Jane said excitedly, nearly bouncing with excitement as she took the driver’s seat and took off. Liam was almost thrown off when she hit the wheel, but he managed to hold onto the ceiling.

When he glanced at the window, his heart nearly stopped at the sight of the rainbow cloud forming massive, almost the size of a tornado. He pulled out his camera, filming it through the window.

“Jane you might want to step back inside,” Liam called. He nearly flew out when there was a bump, but Erik managed to yank him back, not pleased at the lack of seatbelts, but knowing if he did not document this, Jane was going to kill him.

“Isn't this great?!” Jane looked at the men, thrilled. Then a thought seemed to strike her, “You're seeing it too, right? I'm not crazy?”

“I’m wondering if I am but seeing this I think not.” Liam muttered.

“Put your seat belt on!” Erik cried.

The wind was howling around them. Liam couldn’t see what was outside as the SUV lurched. Up ahead, the massive cloud was spiraling down into an enormous tornado.

“Am I seeing this?” Erik said quietly to himself, disbelief.

The tornado was suffused with a strange rainbow light, roaring like a howling wind as it touched down. Liam couldn’t believe it.

Liam glanced at Erik, who was staring out the sunroof.

It should be impossible. An enormous glowing rainbow some kind of funnel cloud, Liam thought. 

“I need to get us close so I can take a magnetic reading,” Jane babbled.

“Wait, are you serious?” Liam said in disbelief. “We don’t live for this kind of danger. I did not come here to die, Jane!”

“Oh god…” Darcy breathed.

“Jane…” Liam started.

“Shut up!” Jane glared at her friends.

“Jane we might get blast off! It’s a tornado, for god’s sake!” Liam shouted, staring at her eyes wide. The SUV was heading towards the tornado as Jane leaned out the window, taping the event after taking Liam’s camera.

Darcy shrieked as the whole SUV rocked like an earthquake. Liam was knocked out of his seat and landed on the floor with a sharp pain hitting on the elbows. When he looked up, he saw a massive bolt of lightning strike down through the center of the funnel cloud before them with a terrifying intensity. 

“Darcy!” Liam shouted while Erik looked a bit sick. 

“What are you doing?!” Jane shouted. Darcy turned the wheel, heading away from the blast.

“Saving our lives!” Darcy exclaimed.

Jane grabbed the wheel, jerking it hard the other way. Liam was knocked off to the side of the van, hitting on Erik. Both the men crashed to the floor as the young women struggle for control.

Liam was struggling to climb back up when suddenly the SUV skidded to stop. Liam heard something slammed into the SUV with a thud as his forehead crashed to the wall. Pain pierced his head as his palms slapped against the cold metal ground, spitting curses at the two women. He can barely move, and his eyelids refused to move at what felt like a sudden collision. 

“Liam, are you alright?” What sounds like Erik knelt next to him, and even without looking, he can tell Erik was hovering over him. 

“No!” Liam snapped, rubbing his forehead before he looked up. No doubt there would be a small bruise. He didn’t think it was a concussion anyway. When he glanced at the shocked women, they were breathing hard. 

“Are you sure?”

“What happened?” Liam ignored him, looking out the window. There seemed to be dust clouds. It could have been an enormous boulder they crashed. But…

“I think we hit someone,” Jane breathed before she leaped out of the car. Darcy quickly followed her while Erik hesitantly looked at him. 

“Liam…”

“I’m fine!” Liam snapped at him, his heart pounding from that experience. “I’ll catch up.” 

Erik slowly nodded before he left him. Liam used his elbows to pull himself up. Whatever happened, they must have been at the eye of the storm. Was it gone? Blinking rapidly, he can barely process the words outside.

“Get the first aid kit.” Footsteps were getting louder in his direction.

Darcy came into view, and gave him a quick smile, “Hey!” She rummaged for something under the seats while Liam continued to rub his head. 

“What happened?”

“Jane hit someone!” She sounded so cheerful that it was sort of disturbing. 

“Next time, I drive,” He muttered before he joined with them. He was surprised when he saw a blonde man lying on the ground wearing a grey shirt and pants, with Jane next to the guy. “Oh dear. Is he dead?”

“Hopefully not,” Jane whispered, “Come on, big guy. Do me a favor and don't be dead, okay? Open your eyes and look at me.” 

Liam winced at the slight pain on his elbow, ignoring the sound of Darcy’s footsteps who passed by him. This was Jane’s fault. Maybe he should have driven because the last thing they need was to be called by the cops if the man brought charges. It’s not as if getting out of the cell was the problem if all he needed to do was pay the damages, but it would be a hindrance to the work they all put up with. He should never have stayed up late with the late-night call. 

“LIAM!”

Liam’s head jerked up in surprise, and saw the man walking around in a drunk manner. His mouth shuddered in disgust. _Who in their right mind would drink in the middle of nowhere_?

“His eyes are dilating, it’s good right?” Jane called out, her eyes focused on the man. “Hey, calm down, are you alright?”

“I’m not a medical doctor,” Liam snapped. His eyes looked up and noticed the storm evaporating in their head. _What happened? Damn it, and if it weren’t for him, they would have missed it._

“Where did he come from?” Jane wondered, exchanging Liam with a puzzled look.

“Does it really matter?” He muttered before leaving it up to them to handle that matter. “I’ll check the readings on the storm. This is just a waste of time.”

“LIAM!” Erik scolded him. “Help us.”

The man growled something that Liam couldn’t hear.

“Hmmm, yeah we can tell. That's pretty obvious.” Darcy commented.

“Just take him here, there’s plenty of time, isn’t there? As long he doesn’t have a concussion. You can’t have hit him THAT hard no matter your _impeccable_ driving skills, Jane.”

He did not need to look back to know there were glares sent in his way. 

“LIAM! Grab the camera!” Jane called. “There’s markings in the ground.”

“ _FATHER!”_

“What?” Liam quickly snatched the camera in front of the seat where Jane left it off, and when he looked out, he can’t help but groan. Of course, Jane would ignore the drunk man for the markings. A faint, discernible pattern that was etched into the sand. He quickly took pictures while at the same time eyeing warily at the drunk who seemed to be ignoring them and calling out to the skies.

“I can’t believe this!” Jane said excitedly.

“What are these markings?” Liam said thoughtfully as he ignored Jane’s babbles. A breeze blew, messing up with his hair. He shivered. “Damn it, it’s cold here!” 

“We've got to move fast before anything changes.” Jane kept muttering to herself, whose primary concern, of course was the wind blowing away their evidence. “We need soil samples, light readings, everything.”

“ _We_ need to take him to the hospital.” Erik muttered. And then gave Jane a pointed look, as if he knew what she was thinking. “Right _now_ , Jane. The readings _later_.”

“If he has injuries, Jane will pay for it since it was her fault.” Liam said it dismissively as he took out the light meter. The readings were higher than normal, but it was decreasing. “Jane, it’s going below. Fast. Bu the flux…the spatial variations in the sensitivity of the instrument and the atmospheric extinction. I need a piece of paper for this to write down.”

“Are you crazy?” She exclaimed it, looking up from her notebook.

 _Oh right. She’s working on Darcy’s loans and other bills she forgot to pay._ He rolled his eyes before he filtered the meter to match the catalog magnitude. “Ok, _I’ll_ pay for it.” Then he retook pictures of the sky, nothing concrete but better than nothing. “Darcy should have filmed this.”

“Jane…” Erik warned, his eyes still on the drunk.

“Not right now.” Jane said dismissively as she took some soil sample and placed it on the canister, “It'll take too long. County's an hour away. We'll drop him off after we're done here. Look at him, he's fine.”

Erik looked uncertain while Liam chuckled a bit. He can’t help it. This trip turned out interesting than he thought it would, ignoring the slight bruises he got. But he would manage.

“You three take him the hospital,” Jane said. “I’ll stay here.”

Liam’s head snapped towards her as if she’s the mad one. “Are you serious?”

“ _You_!”

The four looked at the drunk man, whose eyes were more focused on Jane.

“What world is this?”

Liam just kept his flashlight pointed at him, his body tensed as if the thought just occurred to him that the man was dangerous. Regardless of the drunken state, he was fit. 

“It's all right, my friend.” Erik tried to calm him gently. Liam’s eyes narrowed, deliberately pointing the light right onto the drunk man’s eyes, in case he planned to attack them. “We're going to get you some help.”

The man growled, belligerent, trying to block the light, “WHERE AM I? ANSWER ME!”

“Guys, just back away…” Jane sounded worried.

“You're in the desert outside the town of Puente Antiguo.”

“WHAT REALM?! ALFHEIM? NORNHEIM?

Liam looked around, wondering if he can find a rock he can throw at him. He doesn’t know why but there’s just this impeding sense that screamed at him to get the away from this man. 

“…Loki?”

Liam snapped his head towards the man, lowering his flashlight slightly. He never thought it possible, but for the drunk man, he looked immediately sober. The color had drained his face, gaping. If he didn’t know any better, the man looked as if he has seen a ghost. 

“I beg your pardon?” Liam narrowed his eyes. 

“B-but…y-you can’t be…” The man whispered, slowly walking towards Liam. His hand outstretched as Liam backed away. “L-Loki, but h-how…”

Suddenly, the man convulsed in front of him and collapsed to the ground. Liam gaped before he warily glanced at Darcy, who was holding out her taser.

“What? What? He was freaking me out.” She exclaimed.

Erik sighed. “Liam, help me out.”

Liam shook his head as he came over to assist. _This is heavy_. _I did not come here to do any forms of manual labor. Jane owes me BIG TIME._

“Do you know him?” Darcy wondered as she came by them.

“Never met that man in my life,” Liam grunted as he pushed the man in the back of the SUV. 

“Next time you decide to tasersomeone, do me a favor and makesure they're already inside thetruck.” Erik said to Darcy, shaking his head. He looked out, “Jane, come on...”

“Did you get everything?” Liam asked as he took the driver’s seat. He has no interest in being near that drunk. And after what happened, he was not allowing Jane to drive till further notice. 

“Yes!” Jane shouted.

“We should have heard or seen that tornado in the aftermath,” Liam said to himself. _Is it really a tornado? Or did we just walk into some historical site undiscovered?_ It’s not like he gave the geological and anthropological subjects a thought. It was, unfortunately, not one of the majors he chooses to partake. 

“I don’t know, Liam,” Darcy entered the passenger seat, “He seemed to recognize you.”

“Jane shouldn’t drive,” Liam dryly said, ignoring her, while Jane shot a glare at him as she took the back seat. Shaking his head, he started the engines and drove off. “But I guess you might be onto something, Jane. I need a paper later, because it looked like if _that_ is your proposed _wormhol_ e, then the effect of it would be just a tiny perturbation. The gravitational wave detection, based on the readings, there’s signs of the Minkowski spacetime.”

“I thought you don’t believe in science fiction,” Jane said, amused.

“Whatever comes into my mind, all my ideas are empirical in nature, and I can’t ignore what happened here, despite my innate nature that tells me that this is impossible,” He grinned at her ruefully, “Dr. Jane Foster. Have I ever told you that your ideas are impossible?”

Jane looked pleased, knowing it’s rare for Liam to compliment people. “Why yes. Many times.”

“Hmmm. After we drop this oaf off, I’ll help you with your equations, and then I’m off to meet Dr. Martin.”

“You don’t want to stay for more?” She pouted.

“You know I’m only here for my nuclear physics work? To meet up with Dr. Martin?” He shook his head. “ _This_ is not my passion. It’s _yours_ , Jane. I’m merely here to satisfy your curiosity.”

“If this works, I’ll add your name.” She looked around him from behind the seat. Her wide brown eyes, “You laid a foundation to my work.”

“A work that I have no interest in continuing,” Liam retorted. “Dr. Jane Foster, don’t be absurd. I promised you, didn’t I? That I would assist you. That doesn’t mean I’m your partner in this field.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Ok, I didn’t expect this to reach 4k. In the first draft, it was around 2k. This has been sitting around my files for 5 years, believe it or not, and then I decided while there is no wifi and with the pandemic going on – why not? I can’t say this fic would be my priority. This chapter is not even perfect in my eyes *shrugs* but your reviews/comments will help, even criticism would do.  
> 2\. I’m not an expert in astrophysics. I’m not even good at mathematics or physics. I’m more onto statistics field, so please bear with me and if I offend the scientific community, please know that some of them are more theoretical and fictional that I try to incorporate in the MCU universe.  
> 3\. It is a GEN fic. There will be Thor/Jane. But there’s also going to be a lot of drama, especially with Liam concerned.  
> 4\. We’ll find out more about Liam in a few chapters. I didn’t want to info-dump in first chapter, so there’s a lot of things I had to delete and rewritten.  
> 5\. If you want more writing updates/chapter notes, you can follow me on [Tumblr](http://nikki-pondtheauthor.tumblr.com). The link for Chapter 1 notes is [Here](https://nikki-pondtheauthor.tumblr.com/post/635107971270066176/nothing-more-chapter-1-notes)
> 
> This fic is also available on my FF.net account. 
> 
> Created Date: 12/21/15  
> Finished Date: 11/18/20


	2. Chapter 2

"Liam, I want you to take a look at this!"

Liam barely had a sip of his decaf before he was suddenly pulled into the direction of Jane's workspace. Jane babbled in excitement, her grip tight on his sleeve. Darcy looked at him with pity while Erik seemed to look skeptical. It felt like he was living underwater, his awareness coming back and forth.

"—They're not our stars. This is a characteristic of the Einstein-Rosen bridge. Not with these constellations."

"I'm sorry?" Liam blinked. He shouldn't be surprised those three stayed up all night, while he took a night off after dropping the drunk back at the hospital.

Jane paused, her eyes flickering at his state. His white shirt underneath the loose but yet _familiar_ blue flannel with denim pants. _Oh, right_.

He rolled his eyes, knowing where her thoughts were, "My clothes are in the dryer at the moment." He explained dryly.

"Ugh…Just dump it after." Her nose wrinkled.

He pushed his thoughts away before she started nagging him about her unfortunate ex. "I'm sorry, what were you saying about the Einstein-Rosen bridge?"

She quickly shoved the papers to his arms, nearly dropping his decaf which he scrambled it back to the table. He shook away any hints of sleepiness as he examined her notes and compared them with the notes he had given to her hours ago after he solved it.

"The Kruskal–Szekeres extension of the Schwarzschild solution?" He raised his eyebrow at her.

"But, I'm right, aren't I?" Jane beamed. "Erik already compared it and it supports my hypothesis."

"Jane…" Erik began.

Liam's eyes went back to the papers and then he took a small glance at her J. Foster Algorithm Analysis monitor. He was not surprised. "The space-time with metrics is geodesically incomplete, Jane," He handed the papers to Erik. "If you choose positive lapse function of N, then it will produce the nontrivial energy-momentum tensor. This is no longer a solution to the vacuum of Einstein's equations. Remember what we discussed, Jane?" He shook his head.

"You mean the part it does prove the Schwarzschild solution in isotropic coordinates describes the gravitational ﬁeld around point particle?" Jane asked. Liam nodded.

"This solution obtained within the Hamiltonian formulation is globally isometric to Einstein–Rosen bridge," He nodded, finally able to take a sip of his decaf. He sighed happily, "The lapse function does change its sign when crossing the critical sphere corresponding to u = 0."

"Then the Qualitative behavior of physical trajectories would result from this," Erik said, who had been examining the papers critically, wrote the smooth and defined solutions for all τ∈R, Liam noted.

"Then my consultation time is over now," Liam said, now ignoring what the two astrophysicists discussed. He loved Jane, but there were days where he barely has time for his dissertation. He felt like he was more of a tag-along and consultation. He's starting to resent that it felt like _he_ was her assistant than as a friend/consultant. Don't get him wrong, it was part of his job to consult with other scientists and he barely cared about being respected, but this was Jane. One of his friends. He was here partly because of his Uncle and another because Jane asked for a favor. He cared about her, and for once, he finally has some time for her after being gone for long periods in Arizona to work with an old colleague of his. And it seemed like the only way to have some time with her was to make himself useful. To pass his time, he made few correspondences with his colleagues back in Arizona.

He sighed, pushing his thoughts away, "What's the itinerary after this?" he asked. He knew astrophysicists travel from different locations usually in a week or days, which was a hassle most of the time.

"Um," Darcy said as she pulled out her phone, "5 days after this, we drop you off at Caltech. Suave." She winked at him.

"Thanks," he dryly said. He ignored her disgusted look at his decaf.

"Hey, since you are going to Caltech, Jane's asking your friend's contact number in LIGA."

Liam grimaced. "Not a friend. Ex."

"Geez everyone's talking about exes."

"Why do you need my contact, Jane?" Liam called out.

"She thinks it's not a magnetic storm," Erik grumbled.

"They should pick up the gravitational waves during last night's event," Jane argued. She inserted the piece of equipment she's been working on into a rack-mounted server. "Darcy, remember to take the soil samples to Professor Meyers in geology. Remind him, he owes me."

"Already did ma'am," Darcy gave her a mock-solute before she hopped onto his side, "You okay, man?"

"Sleep deprivation," Liam muttered. "I have to meet with my uncle's colleague in a few minutes and I'm barely conscious of that."

"How's your dissertation?" Erik's kind eyes looked at him, while Jane shook her head as she printed out the images they caught. Erik had flown here, later on, to help with Jane, and Liam was thankful because, with his presence, he has a bit of time on his work.

"Remember my brief period of time in particle physics from Caltech?" Liam asked. Erik nodded. "Luis, my old roommate back in undergrad, had a conference about ultra-relativistic energies and quark-gluon plasma. Though he's more concerned with the exotic phenomena, he might have some ideas on my problems on how to obtain an experimental determination of the temperature reached in a heavy-ion collision and a simultaneous determination of another thermodynamic quantity."

"And your appointment today?"

"Dr. Martin. I need to borrow his Scintillation counter." With a self-deprecating chuckle, he snatched a half-bitten sandwich. "Ugh, I missed Westminster."

"Who's Dr. Martin, again? What does he do?"

"A friend of Uncle," was all Liam had to say. He checked his watch, "Speaking of which, I have to get going."

"Oh god." Jane breathed.

"What is it?" Erik asked while Liam followed her direction. She was staring at the pictures that were displayed on the board. His heart stopped when he caught the shape of the man on what seemed to be on the magnetic storm.

"Oh dear."

Liam has seen many things, yet this has to top one of the strangest things he had ever seen. Skeptic at the sight of the gleam that entered Jane's eyes, he knew what her intention was, but he doubted there was anything concrete about this evidence. "You won't find anything." He remarked.

"It can't be a coincidence, Liam. There's a link between this man and the last night's event. He was literally up there!" Jane said.

"Jane," Erik began.

"Fine, you can come." Jane shook her head, looking in no mood for further arguments while Liam followed her behind.

He snatched the keys from her, "I'm driving first."

"Why?"

"Well, we know what happened with last night." He started. Jane glared at him as he chuckled at the sight of her, "And I have to meet someone first." He and Jane took the front seats while Darcy and Erik climbed on the back of the truck.

…

_"Thor! We must go!"_

_"Then go!"_

_"…You are unworthy of the loved ones you have betrayed…"_

Thor gasped, his ears feel like ringing from those voices. He expected to wake up in his room, back at the palace. For Loki to walk into his room, with the smirk on his face and eyes glinting with mischief. But there was nothing. Not even in his chambers, but a white room that he does not recognize.

He coughed. _Norns, what happened to me?_

It was a nightmare. It wasn't real. His mind only playing tricks with him. Ignoring the feeling of his stomach dropped at the thought, he pushed the mortals out of the way, silencing them by any means. It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

He quickly pulled off these strange contraptions sticking into his skin. A shot of pain made his hands gripped, but he stayed focus. He had no idea where he was, but he knew he cannot stay here any longer. It reminded him of one of his old quests, where prisoners were taken and strapped to the bed. And Thor knew he had no intention of staying in this prison. If he was where he thinks he was, then he must move.

He hesitated for a brief moment.

_Stop and think, Thor! Look around you_

Thor gripped his bedsheet.

He heaved for breath. Tears dripped down his chin.

He shut his eyes, suddenly overwhelmed. A thought just occurred to him.

He was so _tired_.

But…

It was the only way, even if this spirit had been drained, he can't give up. Not now.

The first thing he must do was find a small dwelling safe place to stay. If these people were kind, perhaps they can take him in and feed him. Employment would be needed as a repayment for their act of generosity. Sure, there was a possibility they would not take him in. _But_ …

He closed his eyes, trying to remember the events last night. But few came to mind. A flash of light. Cold air. And bright brown eyes, and something else that was gnawing deep into his mind.

_"You must find a dwelling to stay," His mother's kind eyes gaze at him, her hand placed on his cheek. "I do not know where he might have sent you off, but you must not give up hope. Everything your father does, he has a purpose."_

_"How do I come home?" Thor asked in despair. "Why would father do this? Deprive me of this?"_

_She smiled, even though there was a hint of sorrow. Thor knew, despite everything, his mother did everything in her power to convince father, but not even she can change her husband's mind in this regard. "I have tried, but you father seems determined that it would serve as a lesson." Her lips pursed in displeasure._

_Thor's face was stricken; his heart cannot bare to leave his mother like this. "It should have never happened; this is my fault." Thor turned her away, keeping his tears at bay. "The least I can do is be there for one last time."_

Thor shook his head before he stood up and walked out of the room, past the guards with white robes without being noticed. Despite what his friends thought of him, Thor was capable of stealth when need to be. He walked down the grey hallways with bare people minimum who was dressed like him. When he heard footsteps drawing near, unsure if they were the guards, he hid in the nearest room.

Then he took note of the room he was in, which happened to be a closet with some strange items and the smell of bleach in the air. He underestimated this place was large, and there was no telling if he can escape without anyone's notice. When he spotted some spare clothes, dull pants with a grey hooded tunic. _Unless_ …

He quickly changed his outfit, hoping that no one would bat an eye at the sight of him once he left.

Luckily, he was right. Everyone ignored him. Eventually, he found the huge doors that led outside. The first thing he registered was the bright light burning on his face. A single sun. Its place looked like a barren wasteland with few buildings in place.

"So he did send me to Midgard?" he murmured. Huh. "What did my father expect me to do here?"

The mortal walked past him, giving him strange looks, but Thor didn't really care.

For once, he doesn't know what to do. Where to go.

The guilt gnawed at him. He pushed it down, determined not to let it deter him. _There must be something here that my father meant me to assist._

But before he can take a step out onto the road, something crashed into him. A blare of pain hit his ribs

"Oh my god! I am so sorry. I swear I'm not doing this on purpose!"

Thor couldn't help but gape at how fragile he was. How his ribs hurt. What mighty contraption dare harm him? He didn't really believe his father made him mortal, but apparently so. When he looked up, he saw the mortals from last night.

Kind, brown eyes stared at him, looking apologetic. Thor's eyes flashed with recognition, but he can't remember if he ever asked this maiden her name. Who was she, again?

"Hey," she smiled at him softly, "I'm really sorry. Are you alright?"

"My lady," He breathed. "I am fine." His eyes moved past her to that white contraption. "What is that fine contraption?"

"Oh? You mean my truck?" She sheepishly smiled. A truck? "I really apologize. I just…" Her hesitant look come back.

And an idea came to him. _Perhaps she can help me_. _This is who my father assigned me for company._ "You..were you sent by my father?"

"Y-your father?" She asked, confused.

Thor's heart sank. His hopes dying with him. "Oh. Then I have no place to stay and rest."

"Um, since it's my fault that I hit you, and…I have some questions I would like to ask you. How about you come with me?" She looked at him, her brown eyes hopeful.

And how can Thor not refuse?

…

Liam had second thoughts about this. Scratch that, he should have presented himself better. But after everything that had happened last night, there was barely time. He took a small moment to observe the room he was in. It reminded him of the Victorian homes he had seen in documentaries, with a gothic style office room with dark red curtains that set the tone of room in despair, as if he wouldn't know this place was resided in New Mexico and not in London.

Regrettably, he hid his distaste at the tea he was given earlier as he sat across from Dr. Martin, one of the esteemed scientists in his field. An ordinary scientist would ask for Dr. Martin's autograph if you read his work. And Liam had read his work.

 _Remember not to make a fool of yourself, Liam._ His uncle scolded him at the video call. _Dr. Martin is a dear old friend._

"I apologize for the state I am in," Liam sheepishly smiled, "My head had been occupied with the work and it only just occurred to me that I am meeting Dr. Martin. The difference between knowing and seeing this with my own eyes. I thought my Uncle was pulling my leg."

He wasn't going to admit that he thought his uncle was referring to the _other_ Dr. Martin. Not THE Dr. Martin. He shouldn't be surprised. Really he shouldn't when he considered his uncle's connections.

"Your uncle is still a brat. I see he hasn't changed that much," Dr. Martin chuckled, "Did he ever told you that I was his project supervisor back in the old days?"

Liam blinked. "Really? Which work?" He may not be up-to-date with his Uncle's work these past few years, but there was a possibility his uncle had mentioned in passing during Liam's graduate schemes.

"The deformation parameter of the generalized uncertainty principle," Dr. Martin winked at him while Liam's mouth dropped open.

"T-that's…"

"I know, but enough about that, how is your Uncle?" Dr. Martin inquired as he took a sip of his grey-earl tea. "He barely replies to my messages, that cheeky brat. He was supposed to buy me a drink a couple of months ago at that international physics conference back in Chicago. Then all of a sudden, he emails me, telling me about this wonderful nephew who has valuable insights."

"Well…" Liam hesitantly said. "He's occupied with his work."

"Where does he work again?"

"NNSA," Liam shook his head. Not wishing to talk about it.

"And what do you do?"

"Research at the moment," Liam replied. "I consult sometimes, but I just want to work on this for a while before I transfer to a different institute."

"Money?"

Liam snorted. "Doubtful. It's not a problem. I just…feel like..." Then he paused. He didn't know why he was opening up to Dr. Martin, but maybe it was because he hadn't seen his Uncle in a long while. He trusted his Uncle's word that Dr. Martin was a very close friend of his, but this felt too personal and he didn't want to take up much of his time. "I have a request."

"Go on," Dr. Martin poured him more tea.

"It might sound strange, but may I borrow your Scintillation counter? I was told by my uncle that you wouldn't really mind." He wasn't going to mention that his uncle's words were _This daft man needs a bit of a company after that mental block he has. Do you mind irritating him for a few days on your trip?_ There was no doubt that his uncle intended for him to be taken in by Dr. Martin after Liam turned down other job offers.

"Yes, he mentioned that," Dr. Martin shook his head before he got up and pulled something underneath his desk before he handed to Liam a brown envelope, "He also mentioned I was supposed to pass you something for him."

"What's this?" Liam murmured.

"Confidential, young man." He briefly scolded him.

"And he expects me to deliver this at Kirtland Air Force Base?" Liam muttered. On the other hand, at least his Uncle was near. Maybe a few hours' drive at most before he heading to Caltech. He placed the envelope in his messenger bag.

"Now I believe you want to see the real work, perhaps I can introduce to you my program in the canonical transformation of the Master Equation?" Dr. Martin smiled, his eyes shining with enthusiasm.

Liam grinned at him before following him out of the room, "My pleasure."

…

Liam whistled happily as he strolled down the streets. It's been a while since he felt content, not something stressful these past few months. It's probably the first in a while since on this trip he felt this feeling. With Dr. Martin's suggestions and after using the Scintillation counter, he might have an idea what to do with the dissertation for once in a while.

His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted black vans parked in the lab. People in black suits stripping all the equipment and carting it away to their vehicle.

Liam narrowed his eyes and jogged in that direction. He spotted Jane arguing with one of the men while Erik and Darcy looked baffled at the scene.

"Ms. Foster, I'm Agent Coulson, with SHIELD." One of the men said to Jane.

"SHIELD? What's going on?" Liam demanded, finally reaching to their side. Now he got a good glimpse of the man.

"They're taking away our stuff." Darcy answered for him. Liam looked at them, baffled.

"What for?"

"I don't care who you work for, you can't do this!" Jane shrieked at the agent.

Erik took a step forward, placing a hand on her shoulder as if to comfort her, "Jane. This is more serious than you realize. Let it go.

"Let it go?! This is my life!"

"We're here investigating a security threat. We need to appropriate your equipment and all your atmospheric data."

"Security threat-related on the matters of astrophysics?" Liam scoffed. "Do you think we're idiots?"

"Mr. Page…"

"Liam, this is serious," Erik hissed at him, the warning look on his eyes. Liam narrowed his eyes further, not sure what his friend was talking about. What security threat could SHIELD mean?

"This should more than compensate you for your trouble," Coulson said, handing Jane some kind of cheque.

Unsurprisingly, Jane chucked it to the ground without notice. "I can't just pick up replacements from RadioShack! I made most of that equipment myself!"

"Then I'm sure you can do it again."

"And I'm sure I can sue you for violating my constitutional rights!

"We're the good guys, Ms. Foster." Coulson said before he walked away.

But Jane blocked his path, fueled by outrage. "So are we! We're on the verge of UNDERSTANDING SOMETHING extraordinary." She held up her notebook. "Everything I know about this phenomenon is in this lab and in this book, and no one has the right to take it from me." And suddenly, an agent promptly plucked that notebook out of her hands.

Jane looked so stunned that Liam decided to step in. He knew that Jane cared about her work, and not even money can persuade her on these matters. "Um, Agent Coulson, I don't know if you notice but—"

Coulson interrupted him with a bland smile that screamed fake, "Mr. Page. We heard about your work. It's a shame that we have to take it."

"Wait what?" Liam blinked. And before his anger can manifest, he spotted one of the agents taking away his laptop. "WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT FOR? What did I do?",

"Thank you for your cooperation." Coulson said before he entered the car.

Liam can only stare as he watched the cars and trucks pulling away. Turning around, he noticed an empty space in the lab. All the work was gone.

He sighed. It's not as if it really mattered, just another work back in the junk file unless he's in the mood to try to remember what he wrote.

And he can't really bring himself to think further onto his work, not when Jane looked as if she's going to cry.

"Jane…" He began, unsure of how to comfort her.

"How?!" Jane cried, her eyes briefly turning to him before she gazed desperately at her old mentor. "Years of research, gone. No back-ups or anything."

"I can't believe they took my iPod!" Darcy sighed, mournfully.

"Who are they?" Liam inquired, looking at Erik questioningly. "What is SHIELD?"

"No one knows much about them," Erik said hesitantly. "But I knew a scientist - a pioneer in gamma radiation. SHIELD showed up, and he was never heard from again."

Liam frowned. Why does that sound familiar?

"I'm not going to let them do this," Jane said, determination in her eyes. "I'm getting everything back."

"But how? On what grounds do they have? Do they even have…" Liam scrambled for the right word, "A warrant?"

"It's SHIELD, Liam," Erik said with regret. "But, maybe I can contact one of my colleagues. Dr. Pym has had some dealings with these people. I'll e-mail him and see if he can help."

"They took your laptop, too." Darcy pointed it out.

Erik shot her an annoyed look, "Then the public library might do."

In the end, Darcy elected to stay behind. The rest decided to drop Erik at the public library, while Liam only came for emotional support. Liam had wondered if he can ask for Dr. Martin's help, but Erik was against this idea, fearing that SHIELD may be watching them. Liam had to concede. He can imagine his uncle would throw a fit when he finds out about this. This felt like this was a personal matter.

"So what happened?" Liam asked, taking the back seat. Jane looked confused. He added, "About the guy?"

"Nothing, he…" She bit her lip.

"What?"

Then stubborn glint entered her eyes. And with that, Liam _knew_.

"No!"

"What do I have to lose? He's the only one who has answers?"

"Jane, look, I don't know, but he's weird." Liam came up with a clumsy defense. He wanted to smack himself. Really? That was the best he can come up with?

"You didn't see him, Liam!" She argued. "He knows something! He knows what he's talking about!"

Liam sighed. He's feeling the headache now. "What can a drunk-hearted fool him offer you?"

"Liam…" She turned those gaze to him, pleadingly. Damn it. He might not share her feelings in regards to work, but he knew it mattered to her.

"Fine, fine," He growled as she started to engine. "For the record, this is stupid."

…

Thor wasn't sure what to do. He had explored the town; with no hint of stables, he could use to ride across the field in search for Mjolnir.

Then suddenly, the contraption, what Jane had described as her vehicle, pulled up in front of him. Jane had a sheepish look on her face out the window. "Need a ride?"

"Lady Jane?" Thor exclaimed in surprise.

"And you must be Thor." a dry yet familiar voice replied.

A chill ran down Thor's spine. _No_. Last night's event flashed to his head. That man…He thought it was a trick. An image that conjured from his mind, or possibly a nightmare _. No, no, no, no. It cannot be._

A man popped out behind Lady Jane's shoulder. Thor's heart stopped.

" _Loki?!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah a cliffhanger. Woops. Comments/Reviews/Insights please?
> 
> The link for Chapter 2 notes is [Here](https://nikki-pondtheauthor.tumblr.com/post/637997980276916224/nothing-more-chapter-2-notes)


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